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Imatto-canna (also written ''Imatto canna'' or ''Jamatto canna'') was a false 
He wrote that
Chart of kana from Engelbert Kaempfer
Kana Japanese writing system Orientalism 1712 introductions Writing systems introduced in the 18th century Linguistic error 1712 in Europe {{japan-stub
Imatto-canna (also written ''Imatto canna'' or ''Jamatto canna'') was a false Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
syllabary
In the Linguistics, linguistic study of Written language, written languages, a syllabary is a set of grapheme, written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) mora (linguistics), morae which make up words.
A symbol in a syllaba ...
reported by the German traveller Engelbert Kaempfer
Engelbert Kaempfer (16 September 16512 November 1716) was a German natural history, naturalist, physician, exploration, explorer, and writer known for his tour of Russia, Iran, Persia, India, Southeast Asia, and Japan between 1683 and 1693.
He ...
in his book ''Amoenitatum exoticarum politico-physico-medicarum fasciculi V.'' (1712).
He wrote that Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
had three syllabaries: ''firo-canna'' (hiragana
is a Japanese language, Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''.
It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' means "common" or "plain" kana (originally also "easy", ...
) and ''catta-canna'' (katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji).
The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...
), both used by commons, and ''imatto-canna'', used by nobles. However, the ''imatto-canna'' he believed to exist were just variant forms of hiragana called hentaigana
In the Japanese writing system, are variant forms of hiragana.
Description
In contrast to modern Japanese, originally hiragana had several forms for a single sound. For example, while the hiragana reading "ha" has only one form in modern ...
. Being ''hentaigana'', they did not make up a cohesive or independent writing system, and were in often free variation with other ''hiragana'' characters. The only other Japanese syllabary besides hiragana and katakana is their precursor man'yōgana
is an ancient writing system that uses Chinese characters to represent the Japanese language. It was the first known kana system to be developed as a means to represent the Japanese language phonetically. The date of the earliest usage of t ...
, use of which had died out well before 1712.
''Imatto-canna'' was probably his transliteration of the word ''yamato
was originally the area around today's Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a Names of Japan, name for the whole of Japan.
Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial ...
-gana'', which actually means kana
are syllabary, syllabaries used to write Japanese phonology, Japanese phonological units, Mora (linguistics), morae. In current usage, ''kana'' most commonly refers to ''hiragana'' and ''katakana''. It can also refer to their ancestor , wh ...
in general, both hiragana and katakana.
External links
Chart of kana from Engelbert Kaempfer
Kana Japanese writing system Orientalism 1712 introductions Writing systems introduced in the 18th century Linguistic error 1712 in Europe {{japan-stub